In an effort of save up some money to eventually move out*, I'm putting a ton of prints on my Etsy on deep discount to clear out old inventory! This means I have 11x17 posters for only $5-- almost 60% off the list price of $12.

Please check out my sale on Etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/jennifuThere are tons of posters from my deviantART portfolio, so if you've ever wanted any of them on your wall, it's a great opportunity. The shipping is cheap, and if you buy multiple items, shipping is free!

I'm trying to win a Cintiq 24HD! I'm entering a contest for them by making LINE stickers. If you have a moment, would you mind helping to vote for my entries? You can vote as many times as you want! (Which is a little weird but hey, it's not my contest.)

I love anime. Do you love anime? Do you have a favorite? Has anime ever impacted your life for the better? Or even just cheered you up on a bad day? If so, please consider the people who make it, too!

As you may or may not know, young Japanese animators tolerate some pretty terrible working conditions-- they start out making a horrendously tiny salary of $10,000 a year, and can work some hundred-plus hours a week. Far, far, FAR below minimum wage here, even though they're living in a developed country in the city. It's basically sweatshop level-- they can't afford places to live, or families, and they endure very harsh working conditions to pursue their dreams. And this is all to make the entertainment we love! The majority burn out very quickly. It's a very big problem for the industry.

There's a new IndieGoGo campaign at www.indiegogo.com/projects/ani… that's striving to change this! It's run by veterans of the Japanese animation industry, to help provide housing to these young overworked, underpaid animators, so they can worry less about rent and focus more on pursuing their dreams. It's a smallish campaign for a handful of animators for now, but it could pave the way for bigger change overall. If you have some money, please consider contributing! You'll get some cool artwork and help make a real difference in people's lives-- so they can make more anime! And even if you don't have much cash, please contribute a dollar or share with your friends!

I've contributed way more to this than I've ever put in to a Kickstarter-like crowdfunding campaign. That's how important this is to me, as someone who loves this medium. But since I can't really contribute much more, I still want to find some way to support.

Here's the free commission part

From now until the end of the campaign, I'll be taking free commissions for anyone who contributes to this-- I'll spend 3 minutes drawing for every $1 you contribute (so $10 is a nice, polished half-hour sketch. More is, well, more!!). Whatever you want! However you want! The money determines polish level, color, digital, etc. Please respond or note me if you're interested!

Of course, I'm only one person and don't have that much reach on deviantART. If you have friends here and think this is a worthy cause, would you consider trying to do the same? To draw to support the people who draw amazing animation? I hope this project becomes SUCH a huge success that dorms like this pop up everywhere and we can eventually put an end to the awful conditions animators have to go through! It's a big task, but there's never been a better opportunity to make a difference! Please let me know if you'd consider helping!

PS: There are a lot of resources on the web if you want to learn more about animator working conditions, but this campaign is especially important given this recent news (warning, pretty depressing) www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/…

If you requested a commission from me at AnimeMatsuri, please contact me! Your commission came back in the mail as undeliverable and I don't have your e-mail address. I want to make sure it gets into your hands as soon as possible. Thanks!

To be honest, this doesn't really bother me-- after doing my senior project on fanartists, I've honestly started to think it's kind of weird when fanartists (like me) who make money off another's IP get really furious when someone else infringes on their work. Not that these are really the same thing, though. I did report the listing though (but not as IP holder, I think that'd be kinda hypocritical), so we'll see if it gets taken down.

But yeah! Even if it's only a tiny listing, I was surprised. I'd like to say something like "I'm flattered someone thought people would buy this and took the trouble to list it" but I'm sure it's pretty routine for them.

Of course, if this is the kind of thing that bothers you, I would suggest searching for your works on Google Image Search and seeing if there are eBay listings you didn't authorize. The more you know!

A-Kon started the year I was born and is always near my birthday (June 7), so this year's con is a reminder that I've reached two zodiac cycles already...

Anyway, I'll be in the Artist Alley! I'll also be speaking at the FANS Conference about Artist Alley and anime/manga fanart in North America, on Saturday at 10AM, if you're attending that. I'll also also probably be doing a little work for FUNi.

Fresh prints!

I haven't been to an A-Kon in quite a few years-- maybe since A-Kon 20? I'm excited, and it'll be a new venue! I'm a little rusty on the Artist Alley thing, but I have a new display (kinda) and I'll be bringing some dakimakura and the original canvas of this guy in the art show...

Still working on some last minute stuff for the con, and I'll post some of it soon!

OK HAHA I can't pretend that's no big deal. Working in the anime industry MAY be my lifelong dream, so I am pretty ecstatic.

I know it sounds SUPER LAME to say that anime and hopeless hikikomori otakudom kept me from truly going off the deep end, but I want to give back to the industry, especially given the bit of trouble the anime's going through nowadays. Also doesn't hurt that Funimation's probably the leader in innovation when it comes to adapting business models to the market for the North American industry www.

So, after a long chain of events, I am out of a job and have no money Originally, I was hoping to make it to Otakon as a non-artist tourist, but being unemployed makes that rather difficult.

This is probably unlikely, but does anyone out there have a table they'd be willing to split? I realize that tabling all con could not only pay for my trip, but actually give me some spending money. (I'm thinking to bus it down cheaply and freeload in a friend's hotel room or something, haha. No shame in sleeping in hotel lobbies either~) Otakon does occasionally have at-con tables, but the location is pretty bad.

I've set up an Etsy shop! I'm currently selling 2D originals or prints of some of my best or most popular work, plus the Touhou MacBook decal, but expect additions, including jewelry, pins, and trinkets. Everything is priced at my standard con rate after shipping, with a slight discount on multiple orders.

So I've been a little quiet recently because my company's investors couldn't afford to pay for me, resulting in me losing my first job after three short weeks (GAH).

In the meantime, I've been trying to make ends meet by working with jtlan on an original iPhone game! We're hoping to release in September.

The game is called DOWNWARDS, and it's a puzzle platformer with a little twist-- you can rotate your iPhone to change the gravity of the levels, which helps solve the puzzles. The story is that your iPhone got hacked by a (cute) virus, and you play as an antivirus robot who has to navigate the phone to find (AND DESTROY) the virus.

If you're into iPhone games (or even if you're not), please check it out! We've sent out a first press release already and have a couple ways to follow the game, which include screenshots, description, and will later have trailers (and possibly contests):

EDIT:: Please note a slight change in the pay policy; if this changes things for you, let me know.

Lately I've been having trouble drawing; I want to practice, but I don't have any ideas, so I end up just doodling the same kind of cute girls and hot boys as normal...

I need some ideas and practice, so I'm going to do a weird thing and open commission requests, for as little as one cent. I haven't had much luck with this in the past, but hopefully people have cool things they'd like to see drawn :3

It's going to work a little weird, but if you're interested in commissioning me, note me or reply below~ Rules are following:1) Requests will not be free; instead, I'm adopting the Pay What You Can model a la RadioHead and Panera's awesome Panera Cares cafes. I'm going to ask for an up-front donation (via PayPal) of at least a cent to take a request; when it's done, you can feel free to donate/tip more depending on how much you can and based on your perceived quality of the piece. (I would like to point out that this is pay what you can, not pay what you want, so while a) the amount is essentially up to you and b) I understand that you may be a broke college student, please be reasonable ^^ Also, I'm doing this as a bit of an experiment and will be posting all the results, in this journal.)2) I will consider requests for higher complexity works (e.g. with color, backgrounds, cool poses, etc), but may simplify or even complex-ify as I like. I do want to use these as a chance to challenge myself, so I will hopefully err on the complex side.3) As usual, no super violent or porny stuff I have the right to turn down any request if I just don't want to do it (so no furries, sorry).

Let me know if this sounds like something you'd be interested in! Even if you're not sure about it, feel free to ask me questions or pitch a request.

This is kind of an unconventional way to do it, but let's see how this pans out.

So, turns out I actually do have a table at AnimeBoston this year! I'll sharing with Messrs. and , at table 99 on Friday & Saturday, and table 85 on Sunday. animeboston.com/events/aa_list… Come say hi!!

If you come, you will likely hear me talk a lot about fanart, transformative works, copyright and IP, and the fansub debate.

Also, I made a vow to myself that I would table-sit for no longer than half of my time at the con, so I'll be running a slightly limited stock (no pins, for example), but you should be able to find me eventually? Hahaha.

AnimeNewsNetwork's doing an art contest for Eden of the East (AKA BEST ANIME EVER), and I'm selfishly trying to win the (awesome) series on Blu-Ray and a bunch of memorabilia (T SHIRT AND POSTER AAAH)! If you have a moment, please vote for my entry here: www.animenewsnetwork.com/surve… (entry 59)-- or just go ahead and vote for whatever one you think is best-- I'll admit that that is probably not mine, so hey, credit where credit is due =/.

I was sketching and inking today, and I had absolutely no control over the lines-- all shaky and way too thick, and straying way too far from the sketch. I think that's been going on quite a bit recently-- I can't draw those light, delicate lines anymore, and I can't really pull off continuous curves with a single stroke.

And from that Eden pic, I realized that I've pretty much lost the ability to paint in Photoshop.

TT_TT

I guess it's the effect of going on hiatus so much... OK, I guess I should pump up the energy and try harder... unless my hand is failing due to fatigue?!

I'm sure anyone reading this has heard more than enough about this, but wow, what a shocker. Two years ago, an anime came out called Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, based on the prediction that there was a 70% chance that an 8.0 earthquake would affect Tokyo within the next 30 years.

I'm quite pleasantly shocked at all of the outpouring of support for the victims of the quake. It seems like it's been a lot more than the disasters in China or Southeast Asia from a couple years ago. I sort of wonder if it's because of the Japanophilia on deviantART, but compassion is compassion, even if it comes from bias. The idea of seeing a lot of young people with the victims on their minds is really encouraging; we're the ones who are going to carry this country and world forward, so it looks like a good start.

I've always vowed that I would avoid places with earthquakes...

Anyway, to make this post somewhat more productive: if you're like me and want to donate but can only use PayPal, there's a relief fund for that at www.globalgiving.org/ Apparently services that accept PayPal are somewhat rare... I know other people are in my boat and can't use a credit card (since it'd show up on the statement; my parents see it). I wanted to donate to Red Cross because I heard they have the best chance of getting 100% of your money to the right place, but this one has an 85% rate, which I think is decent (?).

If someone knows of another service with a higher rate that also accepts PayPal, please share :3__

One thing that has disappointed me about the response is how many people insist on using an international disaster as an excuse to make disparaging comments about humanity or to stir controversy about religion. Seriously, I am SO not a religious person, but regardless of whether someone disagrees with you about the efficacy of something like prayer (which, admittedly, I don't really believe in either), provoking an argument and telling people that "prayer is a waste of effort" when people are just trying to express sympathy or spread awareness is extremely unproductive to the situation. Let's spread positivity, not negativity. This is not the time for that.

At the very least, having compassion for others builds one's own character and, amassed over a large number of people, makes the world a better place. Using a tragedy to put others down for having a different worldview than you, just to feel like a smarter person, may have the chance of not hurting, but it certainly doesn't help.

Back from Otakon! It was a blast~ This was my first Otakon, and I was very surprised by the high level of it-- the artists seemed on a much higher general skill level than I'm used to at cons, and a lot of the programming had a great academic bent. I hope I can go next year.

As a lot of y'all know, I was there doing research-- got a ton of great interviews with some faaaaaabulously talented artists who had really interesting things to say about their craft. Also went around asking complete strangers what they thought about fanart; that was kind of daunting and I think I got a terrible sample because I asked people wandering the alley. It's hard to step up and just ask random people at the con though... mada mada da ne.

One thing I experienced there really hit close to home on the whole point of my thesis. I entered a few pieces into the Art Show; I knew that Otakon had been taking steps to limit mass production and fanart in the Alley, so I kind of assumed that most of the Show would be originals and traditional art. I was totally wrong! Tons of the really popular artists had these huuuuuuge poster prints, often in these gorgeous frames, starting at a $5 minimum bid (that would obviously make it up to multiple hundreds of dollars in the end. A lot of it was really popular fanart. It felt like a real galley, and the level of the Art Show was leaps and bounds higher than any other I've ever seen. There was no way I could be competitive and it made me contemplate taking up this strategy of also printing huge posters and framing, but that raises some really interesting questions.

These artists can clearly pull off this strategy because they do this almost for a living and can garner huge economies of scale. But at that point, when fans are paying top dollar for fanart in the Show instead of the Dealer Room, are the artists becoming too exploitative and are the companies starting to lose out? And doesn't this environment make it nearly impossible for a newbie amateur fan to get his or her work out (who's going to look at the simplistic Prismacolor sketches that starts at $20 because it took the guy 6 hours to make, next to a huge full-color poster starting at $5)? If fanart is a way to channel passion for the original property, why does it smell so much like business-- almost like the bootleg business? It's a gray question that normally I'd have sided with the fanartists on, being a fanartist myself, but as I felt the increasing urge to, you know, level up my Art Show-fu and make expensive products with the most marketable designs, I couldn't help but wonder if this pressure was healthy at all.

In the end, one of my pieces sold for $15-- and the frame cost $10. I didn't think that was fair to me, but what can you do if a huge, full-color print starts at $5? But did I even deserve to be disappointed? I WILL probably enter more art shows and completely change my strategy, but I have experience in these kinds of things; I'm not a total newbie. I wonder if that's just adding to a problem? Does it matter?

ANYWAY still looking for fanartists-- or fanart fans! or anti-fanart anti-fans! (double negative?!) to interview about this topic. If you even just have a response to the questions I pose above, I'd love to be able to incorporate them, if you're OK with that.

As you may or may not be aware, I am currently working on my senior thesis at MIT-- [b]on anime fanartists, their community, and the issues they face.[/b] "What?!" you say, "A college thesis on animu fanartz?! Ludicrous! Scandalous!" But true! There's been a lot of academic study on fanfiction (especially of Star Trek) in media studies, but I feel that anime fanartists have their own very special set of circumstances that are really interesting and unique.

Part of my thesis obviously involves talking to said fanartists, and as such, I am seeking anime fanartists on deviantART (or those who would be at Otakon to do this in person) who wouldn't mind being interviewed about their craft. Whether your fanart is your most beloved pasttime or it's just something you do in a vast sea of other pursuits, I'm interested in what I can learn from you.

I generally conduct interviews in person or over Skype, although IM and e-mail as possible as well. I can make interviews long or short depending on your availability-- most of my orals ones have run for an hour to ninety minutes, but a much-abridged 15 minutes is definitely possible too. I can also credit or leave identities anonymous/pseudonymous as you prefer.

If you think you'd be interested in helping a fellow f'artist out and giving your perspective on fanart, it would be hugely appreciated! You can contact me by a dA note or by emailing jennifu@mit.edu.

I'm going to be at FanimeCon 2010 tomorrow (today?)! It's my first real out-of-state con. I know it's kind of a stretch, but if anyone's going, we should meet up =w=

I don't actually know if I have a table yet AHAHAHA because things are really disorganized. Supposedly there's an Art Show? In which case, I'll be putting quite a few originals and special editions of my work in. If I CAN get a table, I'll either be sharing with someone else or grabbing one on Saturday afternoon, so look out for it >>;;; I'll be selling prints, posters, pins, and magnets, and I'll be doing commissions of course~ I have some pretty interesting new things-- uchiwa commissions and postcard commissions-- so hopefully things will pan out nicely.

Anyway! I have a lot of new projects that I've been working on for the con (so I really hope I can actually showcase it...), and I've also been spicing up some of my originals. Here are some of the things I finished: